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SEPTEMBER 2011

The Clock Is Ticking
You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the actions of our elders for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those elders. We must dare to invent the future
Adapted from Adbusters, October 2011 The Girl Effect.

STAND UP FOR CLIMATE CHANGE ON SEPTEMBER 24

How is it that over 1200 people can be arrested and the media except for Democracy Now actively covers it? How can they continue to ignore this mass movement?. Three things YOU can do!1) If you live in the USA, please check out the civil disobedience campaign at www.tarsandsaction.org. The campaign is not directl coordinated directly by 350.org, but it has the potential to be a game-changer in the movement to fight the climate crisis.

2) If you're on social networks, please share the petition with President Obama by clicking a few links on Facebook and Twitter. You can also recruit your friends to sign onto the campaign. It only takes a minute to sign the petition.

3) If you want to get involved in this movement locally, join Moving Planet, a global day of action coming up on September 24. In cities all around the world, there will be bike parades, rallies, teach-ins, and events of all kinds designed to move the world beyond fossil fuels!

A MUST READ: NICKELS BY CHRISTINE STARK

Media Watch gives Nickels, the groundbreaking debut novel from author and artist Christine Stark, a resounding 5 stars! This thrilling read is impossible to put down. Nickels is both riveting and lyrically astute capturing the interior world of a child living in a suburban war zone where abuse happens inside the privacy of a "normal" home. Check it out, available online.

"This is the book we've been waiting for. Christine Stark has crafted a language and a diction commensurate with the shredding of consciousness that is a consequence of childhood sexual abuse. She brings us a wholly original voice in a riveting novel of desperation and love. Stark enables the reader to inhabit the intricacy and chaos of this potent inner landscape, and we have not seen this before. Every sentence vibrates with a terrible beauty. Every sentence brings the news." - Patricia Weaver Francisco, Telling: A Memoir of Rape and Recovery

SEX IMBALANCE IN CHINA

The Chinese political icon Mao Zedong once said “women hold up half the sky”. The Lancet reports that China is facing a serious threat of the sky crashing down. According to the 2010 Chinese census, the sex ratio at birth has climbed during the past three decades to an alarming 118 boys born for every 100 girls, the highest sex imbalance in the world. Without human intervention, the sex ratio at birth is projected to be between 103 and 107 boys born for every 100 girls.

WOULDN'T IT BE LOVELY?

Calling all jammers, dreamers, and patriots—Anonymous has just released a video communique endorsing #OCCUPYWALLSTREET.

Using language from our first Tactical Briefing, the video calls on protesters to adopt the nonviolent Tahrir-acampadas model. On the 17th of September, it says, "flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months ... Once there, we shall incessantly repeat one simple demand in a plurality of voices." See also signs of support for S17 on Anonymous's Twitter and websites.

Meanwhile S17 is surging ahead internationally. Simultaneous occupations of financial districts are now being planned in New York City, Madrid, Milan, London, Paris and San Francisco. With a bit of luck, this list of participating cities will expand. If we can pull together just the right mix of nonviolence, tenacity and strategic smarts, S17 could be the beginning of the global revolution we've all been dreaming about for so long ... wouldn't that be lovely.
for the wild, Check #OCCUPYWALLSTREET out at Adbusters.

TELL RETAILERS TO STOP SELLING MESSAGES THAT DEVALUE GIRLS

Tell Retailers: We're Not Buying It! Sign the petition. On behalf of girls everywhere, enough is enough. This week, a young woman in New York named Lauren Todd started a petition on Change.org urging JC Penney to stop selling a girl’s shirt with the statement: "I'm too pretty to do homework, so my brother has to do it for me."

This is just one shirt in a series that display slogans that characterize a girl's worth by her looks and makes being smart somehow not "pretty". Seemingly harmless? Just a joke? Not funny. Girls get messages from all aspects of media that show a woman's value in relation to her looks – well, we say enough—time to tell retailers, "we're not buying it!"

PEACEKEEPERS NEEDED IN THE U.S.?

Amanda Wilson recently wrote about how the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has ruled that the U.S. should do more to protect victims of domestic violence. The decision marks the first time that an international tribunal has found that the U.S. violated the rights of a domestic violence survivor. It also specifically articulates that failure to respond to domestic violence can constitute a human rights violation by the U.S. government. Human Rights Watch, a prominent human rights organisation, applauded the decision and issued a hope that the ruling would "spur domestic violence reform". Human Rights Watch, a prominent human rights organisation, applauded the decision and issued a hope that the ruling would "spur domestic violence reform". Read the full article at IPS News.

MEDIAWATCH MAILBOX: PORNOGRAPHIC ADVERTISING

Dear Media Watch,

I would just like to bring an advertisement to your attention. When I logged into my Youtube account today, on the front page I was bombarded with a video of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley slowly taking off a Burberry jacket and being sprayed with the perfume that the ad is trying to promote. While the ad is not blatantly sexist, it is pornographic and I would argue that it is particularly negative in terms of promoting the belief that women need to look and act a certain way to gain love, attention, recognition, and respect. I am currently writing a Master's Thesis on Objectified Body Consciousness and Body Dysmorphic Disorder in relation to being exposed to sexually explicit and demeaning images of women in the media. I would appreciate it if you could tell me how it is that one would go about trying to get ads like this banned?

Thank You for your letter. The ad is indeed pornographic and it is vital for everyone to understand the impact of being bombarded with these sorts of images and messages. Media Watch does not believe that banning the image is the answer. Censorship tends to make the image more popular. We need to educate the consumer to take action and ask Burberry to stop using sex to sell women a coat. We need to educate those who may purchase this coat to consider boycotting the company and empowering themselves to utilize the incredible power they have has buyers. We can all be educated to the point that companies won't get away with using such ridiculous images to sell a coat. Thanks again and let us know when your paper is complete.

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